


Time After Time

by redradioflyer



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2p America - Freeform, 2p Canada - Freeform, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 22:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16841302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redradioflyer/pseuds/redradioflyer
Summary: Alfred returns to his dorm to find his room has been utterly trashed, and he is grabbed by a man with his face who tells him crazy things- about himself in the future, time travel, a plot to change everything. The man with the piercings and the dyed hair is apparently himself, but how does Alfred become this person with a chip on his shoulder and darkness in his eyes? To add to it all, Alfred meets Matthew, the man he supposedly marries, in the back of a U-Haul.... Strange because Alfred didn't even know he was into boys yet.





	Time After Time

“We were meant to meet and fall in love huh?” Alfred asks in the quiet of the motel room. He looks into the eyes of the person sitting across from him.

“From what Matt tells me,” Matthew responds. “It was a fairytale romance. It sounds quite nice.”

Alfred studies Matthew for a moment- with his big soulful blue eyes, his curling blond hair, his soft face. He could see, in other circumstances, how he could fall in love with Matthew. Slow and sweet and full of quiet words whispered late at night but no less loud and joyful and playful in the morning. The thought of what could be—what was meant to be—makes him ache.

“Can’t be helped I guess,” Matthew says, and after a moment’s hesitation he reaches out to gently take hold of Alfred’s hand. “Maybe fate has it that we should fall in love a different way.”

They look into each other’s eyes, imagining a future that could be, and Matthew leans his head back against the dingy old comforter of the motel bed. Alfred mirrors him and leans against the bed behind him. He squeezes Matthew’s hand, staying connected with the man who is, supposedly, his soul mate.

It is a quiet moment full of longing and warmth.

The sound of gunshots shatter the scene, and Alfred leaps to his feet instantly. Matthew is close at his heels as they grab their things. They had an exit procedure, an escape route that they’d been drilled in more times than they could count.

The door slams open before they make it far, and they both freeze in place. They wonder if this is the moment when they will die, the time they couldn’t escape fast enough to save their own skin…

But all is well. Matt and Al- looking exhausted and a bit bloody- burst into the room.

“We gotta go!” Al shouts, hurrying them out. “The car’s out back. They caught up.”

Al’s face is the same as Alfred’s own if he were older, and for a moment he has to fight back vertigo. Al is his future self, apparently, and although Alfred has spent rather a lot of time around him, Al’s presence always makes him uneasy.

How could he become such a different person in only 15 years?

But that’s a question for another time… Now it’s time to flee from the people who want to destroy Al and Matt- and their work in the future- by taking out their past.

—

The day after his 19th birthday, Alfred comes back to find his dorm room utterly trashed. As he’s finding his phone to call the cops, the door is kicked open. Shock has Alfred ducking down reflexively behind the counter, but he only has a moment before a man comes around the corner. He’s wearing body armor and weapons are strapped to his sides.

“Alfred!” the man says. “We have to go. We have to leave now!” This man’s hair is dyed red, his skin is tanned dark, and he is clearly much older than Alfred, but his eyes… his eyes are the same shape and color that Alfred sees in the mirror every day. A long lost brother perhaps or a relative, he thinks at the time, and he flees with this man that shares his face.

Reality is much stranger.

Alfred has to sit through unbelievable explanations- forbidden technology, war, time travel, facts about the life that he was meant to have before his future self and his dear love developed technology that helped thwart some ‘really bad guys.’

It sounds like so much sci-fi, but Alfred knows that it’s true. He can feel in his bones that it’s true. Sure, he wonders what happens to him that leads to the dyed hair and the piercings, the attitude, the scars… It’s nothing like him. Al is flirtatious and a bit crude, hardened by war and whatever darkness the future has put on him. He’s a vegetarian and a fighter and a man so in love he’s almost angry about it sometimes.

He’s so removed from what Alfred sees himself as that it’s hard to reconcile this man from the future as himself.

But sometimes Al looks at him with longing so fierce that Alfred knows he wants to go back. The innocence, the carefree attitude, the sunshine in Alfred’s life right now- Al yearns for it again, but he doesn’t hate Alfred for it.

Indeed, Alfred expects more bitter lashings out than he actually gets. Al is gentle with him and quite protective. Even though he knows that Al is himself from the future, sometimes his heart still races at how lovingly Al looks after him. Though he knows that this is self protection as much as anything else, it is somehow touching.

—

Alfred meets his soul mate in the back of a U-haul. He’s shoved into the back of the truck and the door is shut behind him. Al had told him that they’d meet up with his partner from the future- Matt- and that they’d travel to somewhere safe, somewhere hard to find. There’s only one other person in the back of the truck, and he looks just as tired and fatigued as Alfred feels.

“You must be my future love,” Matthew says and he manages something like an embarrassed smile.

“I’m Alfred,” he responds, cheeks turning pink.

“So you’re the one,” he jokes. “I have good taste.”

Alfred looks over and manages a half-hearted joke, “And apparently I do too. I didn’t even know I was gay yet. Or bi? I guess? I mean I haven’t even gotten that far. Al says I fall hard and fast for you though.”

Something in this makes Matthew laugh, and he turns a lovely smile on him. “A late bloomer then? This whole thing must’ve been even more overwhelming for you. Having to deal with a sudden sexuality crisis on top of meeting yourself and having assassins after you.”

“Dealing with the assassin’s was probably easier…” Alfred says, making a teasing face.

“I remember high school well enough,” he agrees. “Assassins are definitely easier.”

They’re quiet for a long time, and Alfred finally leans against Matthew’s shoulder. They nestle together as though it’s the easiest thing in the world to snuggle a total stranger, but given the situation, they both need the contact more than they can say.

“I’m scared,” Matthew says after a moment.

“Me too,” Alfred says back. “Me too.”

—

Matt is taller than Matthew, and Alfred is a little jealous. He hadn’t grown at all apparently, but Matthew has another growth spurt in him yet. It’s almost harder to interact with Matt than it is to interact with Al though. Matt is hardened by battle now, and all the baby fat is gone from his cheeks at this age. Covered in scars, he looks fierce and heroic and exhausted all the time, and his eyes are sharp and intimidating in a way that clashes with what his past self looks like.

But sometimes Matt looks at him with such adoration and love- remembering his young life when they had been together presumably- that Alfred gets embarrassed. Such love and feeling from a man he barely knows…but one who knows him so fully that he can make his coffee absolutely perfectly to his taste and knows how he likes to sleep at night.

“I make you uncomfortable,” Matt says one night in a motel while Matthew sleeps and Al showers. “I try not to, but I have so many memories of you at this age. I met you the day after you turned 19, out by the burger stand in the park at one of the picnic tables.”

“I know it must be hard,” Alfred replies. The thought of such a memory makes his heart pang- he wants that more than he can say. “I understand that. It’s just strange for me. I don’t remember you at all, but you know everything about me.”

Matt touches his hand gently. “I’ll try not to stare or do anything strange. I’m sorry for all this. I didn’t want this for any of us.”

They are quiet for a long time, but finally Alfred asks a question that has weighed on him for a long time.

“I…. Al and me… we’re so different. I changed so much if I become like him… how can you really love us both so much if we’re barely the same anymore?”

Matt turns and he smiles- a very rare sort of treat that has Alfred’s heart speeding up. “You aren’t as different as you think.” Then he gently twines his fingers with Alfred’s. “You’re the same in all the ways that count- your heart, your heroism, your intelligence. The rest of it… it hardly seems to matter.”

Alfred glances back at Matthew- sweet and strong and kind-, and he knows that he’s already falling for him. When he looks back into Matt’s face, he can see that kindness and strength and that sweet temper still there under the scars and the pain of his life.

“And I- well, Al I guess- still loves you just as much as he always has.”

Matt nods, and he kisses Alfred’s forehead. “He does. We’re soul mates after all.” He lets go of Alfred’s hand and moves away from him to check the windows again. “Get some sleep Alfred.”

They only have two beds, and so Alfred gently climbs into bed with Matthew.

He yearns to pull him into his arms, but it’d be too strange. They aren’t close enough yet. They both need more time, but the love… it’s there, waiting to fully bloom.

—

“Do your memories change as things happen?” Alfred asks. “To reflect the differences in what is happening and what was supposed to happen?”

“No,” Al replies. “This…” He gestures around him. “Hasn’t technically happened yet.”

Alfred and Matthew both share a confused look, and Matt sighs softly.

“They need more explanation,” Matt tells him.

“Well, it’s like this—Time travel on its own wouldn’t work. If you went back and edited a part of your life, maybe the divergence would mean you never did… whatever led you to the path to using a time machine. Poof! You cease to exist and the timeline fixes itself. The timeline has a path and it wants to follow it. So people made something else.”

“A stabilizer,” Matt cuts in. “We can only travel back so far- 15 years is our limit, because going back any further is too hard to stabilize- it’s why they didn’t strike at us as babies. You stabilize the year, isolate it from the rest of the time flow. Then you edit the things you want. After this, you stabilize the next year, then the next, carefully controlling the things that happen until you get changes all in place the way you want them.”

“That sounds like… a lot of work…” Matthew says. “The people that are trying to change things… they must be powerful.”

“They are,” Al says. “They lost their war because of tech me and Matt developed. So they developed some of their own. They’re trying to change the timeline so that they win the war. Killing us two… that’s the beginning.”

“But if you’re back here, who’s in the future taking care of things? And how are you going to fix the subsequent years…?”

“We aren’t,” Matt says with a hard smile. “We’re going to keep them from changing too much here, and our comrades in the future are going to destroy their time travel devices. We’ll go back, the physicists will reverse the stabilizers on this year and then…”

“Everything goes back to the way that it was supposed to be. You guys won’t remember a thing because we’ll make it as if those bastards never came back here to play bad fairy. You’ll get to go back to the path your lives- our lives- were meant to take.” Al grins at him. “We’re almost there. Our comrades sent word that they’ve taken control of their facilities, and we only have to last a few days more and we’ll be safe again.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Alfred replies. “Is it really so simple? Sounds impossible.”

“Not simple but definitely possible.” he says back, glancing at Matt and sharing one of those quiet intimate expressions that Alfred doesn’t yet understand. “A difficult problem but definitely solvable.” 

Not really understanding, Alfred looks away and blushes anyways, that strange feeling of vertigo back again.

—

The final fight is the hardest one- realizing that defeat is at their doorsteps, their enemies attack them with all the fierceness of a cornered animal. Their warehouse- a nice abandoned place to keep out of sight- is invaded in the dark of the night. Matthew and Alfred are hurried out of the place into the darkness. They’re halfway to their hidden escape route when the fires start, and they hear voices behind them.

“Take them with you,” Al whispers fiercely. “Protect them. I’ll go back and take care of the ones following us.”

Matt looks as though he might fight him on it, but instead, he grabs the back of Al’s head to pull him into a passionate kiss. “Come back safe,” he growls out before he turns, fire in his eyes, and hurries Matthew and Alfred through the woods.

Alfred can’t help but wonder if he’s just seen the last moments of his life happen right in front of him. He spends the rest of the night in a little bunker, nestled between Matt and Matthew as they wait for Al to catch up with them.

Then a watch- well, it looks like a watch- starts to flash information on Matt’s wrist.

“What does that mean?” Matthew asks, breath caught in his throat. “That’s not bad news is it??”

“Not bad,” Matt says, eyes searching the edge of the woods. “Not bad but I have to go back. The year is about to reset back to normal, and I can’t be here when that happens.”

“But what about Al…?” Matthew says, eyes searching the woods. “He will definitely be here soon.”

Matt doesn’t look nearly as hopeful, face set into a grim frown. “I have to go back. If he… if he comes, hurry him on to the future after me okay?” Matt looks desolate though, completely defeated, and Alfred feels like crying from that expression.

This man… Alfred would grow up and die protecting people, and leave the man who loves him more than anyone sad and lonely. Bile is rising in his throat, and he wants to say something- anything- that would make this man feel better.

He barrels forward, hugging Matt tight from behind. “I love you Mattie,” Alfred says with feeling. “I’m gonna come back. Al is gonna come back. Go to the future, buy me like an hour or something. I’ll definitely come back. I just need a little more time, I’m sure of it.”

It’s just words born from his feelings- Alfred has no way of knowing whether Al is alright or not. But the feeling is enough. Matt turns in his arms, pushing him gently back. He looks down into his face and finally leans down to give Alfred a rather chaste kiss.

“I’ll get you one hour, hero,” Matt says as he looks into his eyes. He pushes a watch like the one on his own wrist into Alfred’s hands. “One hour, I can’t promise much more.”

Then he steps toward Matthew, giving him a peck on the top of his head. “Take care of him for me. We both know he’s hopeless on his own.”

Matthew smiles- a bit weakly- up at his future self and nods. “Of course. I’ll do my best.”

Then Matt presses a few buttons on his watch. He fades into nothing, and Matthew and Alfred are left alone to hold vigil for Al.

—

It’s 45 minutes more afterwards, and hope is low. Matthew is in tears for his one day lover, fidgeting with the watch- the gate to the future. Although he doesn’t know the depth of Matt’s pain, Matthew is well aware that that unless Al shows up soon that he one day will understand. Now that the bad guys were taken down… Now that the bad guys in the future were gone… they could’ve still been fine. The year would reset after after all, return them all to normal, and Matthew and Alfred would wake up, safe and sound, in their own beds. 

But not Al. If Al was in the true ‘present’ of the flow of time, that meant that his death would just be how he died. They both know that this is the truth… neither Alfred or Matthew truly understand the full concept of how time works, but they both know that this could be Alfred’s end.

But then, a mere ten minutes before their hour is up, Al stumbles- bloody and wounded- through the woods into the clearing. He grins at them both like he’s won some sort of award. Before Alfred can even draw breath, Matthew races across the field. He grabs Al up into a fierce hug before pushing the watch into his hands.

“Hurry. You have to go now. They’re going to—“

But Al cuts him off with a kiss and a triumphant grin. “I know, I know. Gimme my watch.” He lets Matthew put it onto his wrist and he takes a breath. “It was good seeing you again, Mattie. Can’t wait to see you in present.” He kisses Matthew again, winks, and then steps away. With a few button presses, Al is gone.

Alfred comes forward then- Matthew collapsing down onto his knees in the grass. Alfred kneels down next to him and he takes his hand.

“We’re alright,” Alfred says softly. “We’re both okay.”

“Yeah,” Matthew says, and he turns to look into Alfred’s eyes. “We are. We must be soul mates after all- if we managed all that.”

They grin at each other, and Alfred leans in for a kiss. Before their lips can touch, there is a light and a gentle feeling of warmth. They fade out of the field, out of the danger, and the fires in the distance mysteriously go out.

—

It’s the day after Alfred’s 19th birthday, and he’s just come back from class. Everything is how he left it, all in order and fine. There had been some strange apprehension somewhere in the back of his mind that something was wrong. Nothing out of place though, and he almost throws down his things to take a post class nap.

But he doesn’t. Instead, he grabs his calculus book, calculator, and pencils. He heads back down to go grab a burger at the burger stand. He sets up at a picnic table in the park, and he devours his burger with gusto. Then he focuses on the book in front of him and does his homework out in the nice weather of early July.

He gets to a particularly hard problem that he has to erase several times. So distracted with his work, Alfred doesn’t notice the curious eyes that have been on him as he struggles through the problems, doesn’t notice that this person is approaching him from behind to try and make conversation.

“This is impossible!” he says, throwing his pencil down. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

Someone clears their throat, and Alfred turns to make eye contact with the most handsome boy he’s ever seen. The boy laughs softly and looks over his shoulder at the problem on the page. “Not simple no,” he says. “It’s a difficult problem but definitely solvable.”

Suddenly Alfred’s heart is going a mile a minute, and he has a moment of complete confusion… This boy has such a familiar face, but he’d never met him. Even though he’s totally not into boys, Alfred would definitely remember meeting a guy as perfect and handsome as this. “Oh uh, yeah I guess it is. I’m just stuck.” 

This boy smiles, expression much more shy now. “Maybe I can help. I’m taking this class too.” He slides into the seat next to him and offers him a French fry. “I’m Matthew, by the way.”

“I’m Alfred,” he says back, cheeks turning red. When their fingers brush, Alfred has to look away in embarrassment.

He might have to reevaluate that not being into boys thing… 


End file.
